Calling All Thrift Store Enthusiasts

We need to conserve space in our kitchen, for this reason we need thinner dishes. Were looking for Corelle wear, specifically the three patterns shown below (click to enlarge). These patterns represent my Moms, my Grandmas and Joe's Moms (he thinks) dishes. If you see any of these in your thrift store wanderings grab them. We want plates in large, medium and small along with large and small bowls. Unfortunately were NOT looking for the tea cups and saucer plates, apparently no one else is either because that's all we can find. Thanks in advance!

You Look Funny

The other day Ari asked to make smoothies, so we Did. As you can see smoothie drinking is much like milk drinking but with far more dramatic consequences. These two were laughing so hard at the other ones smoothing mustache; I don't think they realized that their own face looked just as funny.

Potty Training In Full Swing

WARNING: You may only care about this post if you deal with small peeing children.

I've been fearing this week for weeks. We set a date for after Memorial Day weekend to start potty training Ari. I think he's been ready for awhile, I've just lacked motivation.

We knew he was ready for the following reasons:
1. He announces he needs to go pee just before peeing his diaper.
2. He holds his bladder so long the pee comes gushing out his diaper.
3. He asks to have his diaper changed upon said peeing.

I was nervous only because we've tried at random (I know, our first problem) to set him on the potty when we know he needs to go and he wasn't a big fan. Sometimes he would use it then after awhile he would either get mad, or sit on the potty and not pee then get down and pee his pants. SO, we decided that when we started we just needed to hit it hard and never look back.

We've been at it 4 days now, the first day was great, he even asked to poop in the potty. The second day was utterly discouraging (photo to the right), but we seem to have hit a small stride. Ari asked to use the neighbors potty while being tended (even though he had on a diaper), AND the last two nights he's woken up at 3:30 am and asked to use the potty. I was shocked. I know kids usually hit a regression point; I'm just crossing my fingers.

Methods that have helped so far:
1. All but one of his "accidents" have been outside so we introduced watering the lawn. I know, totally unsanitary but I think we will establish a peeing tree that can be hosed off after use.
2. Getting a treat just for sitting on the potty regardless of if you go or not.
3. Extra big treat for going poop.
4. Cheerios in the toilet for target practice.
5. Many kudos after a successful potty use.
6. Seeing an admirable friend use the toilet (we owe you one Myelle, I think this was KEY).

Were far from announcing mission accomplished, but were definitely moving in the right direction. I LOVE not washing stinky diapers every three days. Now how to handle going on vacation in a few weeks...

Day 4 - Hiking in the Wasatch

Monday we went for a hike with Ben and the Gallegos family. It was a great day, felt so good to get out and be with friends. As you can see spring is in full swing, it's prefect. We even wore Myelle out to the point of her sleeping through an apparent nose piercing.

Day 3 - Zoo

I was surprised to see how many people go to the zoo in the rain. We were soaked, but had a fine time. This is what your family photo at the zoo looks like when you have a child that will not cooperate.

Day 2 - Little Cottonwood

Day two we spent up Little Cottonwood, then at the Patagonia outlet and finally enjoying an Indian food feast. Joe and Chad climbed my favorite route "Bushwack" while Lacey and I hung with the little ones (I knew neither my bladder, back or gut would allow for climbing); but it was a nice day just to hang out up the canyon. We found this digger dump for Ari at Savers, or shall I say Ari found this digger dump for Ari at Savers. It was a life saver, kept him entertained despite the fact that he was about 4 hours overdue for a nap; he even drove that thing up the trail to the base of the boulder field. He's pretty hardcore.

Oh and that last photo. Ya, we did eventually use the bouldering pad for some actual bouldering.

"I Just Felt a Raindrop"

Yes, birds really do poop in peoples hair, it happened to my son. Yes, he though it was a raindrop. And yes, bird poop doesn't come out very easily with butt wipes, the stuff has amazing stick ability.

Day 1 - North of the Great Salt Lake

We had no clue what we were going to do for Memorial Day weekend up until the moment we were driving out of town; and even then we apparently didn't have a solid plan. Plans were made and re-made months in advance.

Plan A: City of Rocks with Claud and Bri - Campground Full
Plan B: San Rafael Swell with Claud and Bri - No one wanted to camp with Claud ;)
Plan C: Yellowstone with ourselves - Lacey called
Plan D: Jackson Hole (i.e Snake River) area with Chad and Lacey - Didn't end up with enough days.
Plan E: Joes Valley with Chad and Lacey - Sick child
Plan F: Mountains NW of Great Salt Lake with ourselves - Lacey called
Plan G: SLC area Chad, Lacey, Claud, Bri and Family

We ended up with Plan G. Lacey called just as we were about to leave cell range west of the Great Salt Lake and said they were coming up to SLC the next day. We decided to camp the night near Locomotive Springs. I know, never camp by something with the name "springs" during mosquito season. They were really really bad; Alaska bad; top of Green Canyon with Kim bad...

Since there were too many mosquitoes to really hang out anywhere we ended up entertaining ourselves by letting Ari drive, letting Ari stand and roll the windows up and down while traveling fast enough to out run mosquitoes, hanging our heads out the window, eating snacks, etc. Luckily the wind picked up not to far into our entertainment attempts so we were able to get out and enjoy an AMAZING sunset and put up the tent without being eaten alive.

Unfortunately we woke up way to early to a loud chorus of bzzzbbzbzbzbzbz. We laied in the tent and watched the mosquitoes swarm until we got brave enough to run to the Suburban. I wish I had video of Joe taking down the tent, just imagine someone taking down a tent and stuffing it in the stuff sack while trying not to stand remotely still. I also wish I had video when I opened the door to the suburban where Ari was suppose to be safe but instead was huddled in a corner yelling "Mom get that mosquito."

Good times.

See the mountains in the background of this first photo. That's where we were headed when Lacey called; we didn't intend to attempt camping near the marshy salt flats... We'll get her next time.

Wilson Kid

Joe's had this shirt for a long time, as you can tell by the fact that it now fits Ari...although we can't find an actual photo of him in it. Do you Wilson's out there know if one exists? Joe thought he remembered having one but we can't find it. Anyway, we found this while cleaning a few weekends ago and Ari put it on. This shirt is awesome, I wish I still had my "I'm TOP HAM" shirt. I think this calls for a revival of the old school family t-shirt.

Moms Socks

Not sure why Ari insisted on wearing MY socks on our hike/bug finding extravaganza this week. I guess my socks are just really cool?

Some Really Great Stuff

For my birthday I usually take a trip, last year was Valley of the Gods, this year was St.G to surprise my Mom. I'm way more into memories than stuff...in fact the one gift I did want was to get RID of stuff. Ok, then there were those turquoise earrings...

I did however end up with a few surprise gifts ALL worth sharing and pictured to the right. I got a swell card from Ari with original hand crafted artwork (glad it was on paper this time and not on the side of the car). My niece Addie gave me this swell Santa clause decoration AND a mostly used pencil AND a nearly dry bottle of fingernail polish. My other niece made me the cool beaded hair charm which I wore proudly all day long. These gifts were awesome!

Another great gift came in the form of this blog posting. I love the memories of this birthday, I had only recently met all of these fine folks but they threw me a party anyway, it was very unexpected. Birthdays are opportunities to make some really great memories; far more valuable than stuff. Thanks Liv for the memory. Truly a b-day I will remember forever, it was after all a kick off to the best summer of my life!

Happy Mothers Birthday

Lucky me Mothers Day fell on my B-Day this year...I kind of feel cheated out of a holiday but what can you do. It was a crazy day. We drove down to St.G to surprise my Mom. Everyone in my family was going to be together on Sunday except for Joe and I; and my Mom REALLY wanted a family photo. My brother-in-law was flying out of St.G that same day, it was the last time we would see of him until he got home from Iraq. So, it was a pretty big day and the last time we could get a family photo for a very long time.

On Sunday my siblings set up a big family photo shoot under the pretense that it's too bad Lindsey's fam could not be here. Seth put his camera on the tripod and just before the photo took Joe, Ari and I snuck in the back. Lacey took the camera off the tripod to show my Mom the photo so that she could make sure it was ok...someone scrolled around the photo for her so she could check everyone's faces then she saw ours and said "how did you do that?" She thought someone had done an in camera photoshop trick I guess. After she realized that was impossible she looked over and we waved. She was very excited, worth the drive and it made for a great birthday/mothers day/shipping off for Iraq party.

Look Who I Saw

Found these mid westerners near St.G last weekend doing a little field work. Had no idea Bonnie was with them; talk about an added bonus. We had hoped to camp with the crew but due to a really crappy cold sweeping through our family I'm surprised I had enough brain power to actually find them. We joined them for dinner in Leeds canyon. Good company, good food, crazy dogs, a very nice sunset and not nearly enough time. Always good to see a few of your favorite people...can you believe Olivia is still wearing that bee lab hat...;)

Ari Sees a Real Life Dentist

Ari's been obsessed with Dentists ever since we started reading "Rudolph" a few months before Christmas (as you may recall his elf friend wanted to be a Dentist instead of a toy maker). Ari loves it when I tell him about what Lacey does...ok, so she's a hygienist but that's fascinating enough for Ari.

Last week while we were in St.G Lacey offered to clean Ari's teeth, he had some serious tarter buildup behind two of his lower bottom teeth that need attention. While she was cleaning she noticed a spot that looked like a cavity. The "real" dentist confirmed said cavity and we discussed our options. Children this young don't usually do well with cavity fillings, but we decided to try it anyway. Lacey got him all excited about the tools the dentist would be using, gave him lots of rides on the chair and made him excited that they were going to use a little motorcycle to get rid of his sugar bugs. I held Ari while they worked on him, they moved fast shoving this and that in his face then BAM it was over. Ari did great due in large part to the fact that Lacey was there helping. She sure knows how to make a kid love going to the dentist; Ari woke up the next day and asked to go back.

Unfortunately it would appear he will have many more chances. Despite the fact that we severely limit his sugar intake he may just have his Dads teeth...better start saving up for future dental procedures.

Nailed It!

I guess I kind-of wanted it to be a girl only because that meant I would have been TOTALLY and COMPLETELY shocked, which would have been fun. Really it doesn't matter to me one way or the other the gender of my child, I just happened to have stellar intuitions and knew it was a boy.

Isn't he cute. (notice that's not a question) Looks like he already has Joe's lips and my long fingers. Crazy the photos they can take of your fetus these days...creeps me out if I think about it too long. It was fun to see him moving around.

Any boy name suggestions?